[BACK]Return to loncapapasswords.html CVS log [TXT] [DIR] Up to [LON-CAPA] / doc / build

Annotation of doc/build/loncapapasswords.html, revision 1.3

1.1       harris41    1: <HTML>
                      2: <HEAD>
                      3: <TITLE>LON-CAPA Managing user passwords</TITLE>
                      4: </HEAD>
                      5: <BODY>
                      6: <H1>LON-CAPA Managing user passwords</H1>
                      7: <P>
                      8: Scott Harrison
                      9: </P>
                     10: <P>
1.3     ! harris41   11: Last updated: 02/15/2001
1.1       harris41   12: </P>
                     13: <P>
                     14: This file describes issues associated with managing user
                     15: passwords on a LON-CAPA system.
                     16: </P>
                     17: <H3>Latest HOWTO</H3>
                     18: <P>
1.2       harris41   19: There are three main topics when considering user passwords:
                     20: authentication, accessing the file system, and web-based access.
                     21: </P>
                     22: <P>
                     23: Authentication is covered in a separate document.  I will briefly
                     24: mention that LON-CAPA supports different kinds of authentication
                     25: that can be customized for use within different institutional computing
                     26: environments.  Authentication, whether it be related to web-based access,
                     27: or accessing the file system, is strictly the job of library servers,
                     28: not access servers.
                     29: </P>
                     30: <P>
                     31: Web-based access is initiated through a javascript encrypted protocol.
                     32: The server enables access to LON-CAPA from the client IP address until
                     33: the user logs out, or time expires without any action made by the user
                     34: on the web pages.  Web-based access is something which is implemented
                     35: for the full range of users--from students to course administrators
                     36: to content developers.  LON-CAPA relies upon the /home/httpd/lonUsers/
                     37: directories to store information about password authentication for
                     38: the users of a given system.
                     39: </P>
                     40: <P>
                     41: Something which is not implemented for the full range of users, but
                     42: which is reserved for content developers, is file system access.
                     43: LON-CAPA provides for a wide range of file system access including
                     44: SSH, Samba (Windows Network Neighborhood), Appleshares, an FTP.
                     45: Three files are involved with coordinating file system access:
                     46: /etc/group, /etc/smbpasswd, and /etc/passwd.
                     47: </P>
                     48: <P>
                     49: Correctly handling the contents of /home/httpd/lonUsers directories,
                     50: and the /etc/group, /etc/smbpasswd, and /etc/passwd files is of
                     51: critical importance to ensure uninterrupted access to the LON-CAPA
                     52: network.
                     53: </P>
                     54: <P>
                     55: This document will be developed further.
1.1       harris41   56: </P>
                     57: </BODY>
                     58: </HTML>
FreeBSD-CVSweb <freebsd-cvsweb@FreeBSD.org>